Thanks for the fill-in info!

Albert Howard ran for president in 2008 as a GOP candidate in the new Hampshire primary.

If he can pull 20% of the vote he should consider it a moral victory. Marcia Higgins received less than 25% of the mayoral vote against Hieftje in 2002; Wendy Woods and Tom Wall fared little better in later years’ Democratic primary elections, Libertarian Eric Plourde netted 15% in 2008, Pat Lesko 16% in the 2010 August primary and Steve Bean 17% that fall in the general election.

[Editor's note: The following was a comment left on an AnnArbor.com article "Affordable housing advocates make case for more funding as Ann Arbor officials put decision on hold"]

4:19 PM on 9/18/2012

I very rarely comment on current A2 issues as I had my 11 elected years of comments but there seems to be some questions on the DDA and its mission. As I, and my fellow colleagues on council, wrote the law over 30 years ago , I am in a position to give some intent and purpose to its creation. It has certainly changed missions over the years and it has changed for one reason and one reason only…..MONEY and who controls it. As it began its life, the DDA board was to be made up of “downtown” residents and business owners. The only council participation was ONE NON-VOTING liasion member. It was to be administered from the planning department….we said we did not want to create another bureaucracy outside of city hall and we were determined not let it become another core wasteland like so many other Michigan cities. Please remember the DDA began with no money,no staff,no parking responsibilty and no one paid much attention to its existance. This all changed when this “orphan” started to generate (guesswhat) MONEY. No DDA funds can be spent outside the set bountries of the DDA and the DDA cannot buy or sell real property for the city….only the city council by a 3/4 majority vote can do that. The DDA was never intended to be another government. It has so because of MONEY and the Power MONEY brings. The council has abtacated responsibilities to the DDA because it could not balance its operating budget without the DDA’s MONEY. The DDA has become the ATM for the city government. Look at the make up of the DDA board…it’s a sub-committee of city council…really….the mayor, council members, former council members, county commissioners….follow the money. The DDA has worked!!! and if left alone to do its original mission it would work even better. … the government, is only there to support the vitality of the all important core. Affordable housing and projects outside the DDA boundries should not be funded by DDA funds. Citizens….WATCH THE

“He said that he personally has been “extremely approachable””

I actually agree with this statement, personally. I have found that the mayor was quite approachable and quite pleasant to talk to. Even though we may have differing opinions on some matters, on the few times that I have chatted with him, he was quite nice.

Last night I watched the council meeting and I noticed something about the role of a mayor. Although I disagreed with how he voted on things, he was voting for the city — and thus, he was doing his role. What I mean… is that in all the votes…. the majority of council votes would vote yes/no…. and he would side with the majority. If the council votes are a representation of the city, then it seemed entirely appropriate for him to go along with them. It would seem odd to me, if the mayor voted opposite of what the council voted. In this manner, I view the role of a mayor… as a representation of the city as a whole — even if I may disagree with his vote. So although some criticism might be aimed towards the mayor, it is the role of the people to vote their councilmembers into power. Those councimembers serve the role for their area of the city, so their vote, is a representation of that area of the city. If the councilmember wasn’t a representation of the people, then the people should vote for someone else. So I respect the mayor, but I can still disagree with him and I have found that he is also respectful of my thoughts as well.

Sometimes though… the mayor does make mistakes as well. Last night, he pounced hard on the Sierra Club and it was quite brutal to watch. I felt, that he was not respectful towards them. He could have voiced disagreement without being disrespectful. Watch the comments that he voiced towards the Sierra Club and you can see what I mean.

If you want to see an example of how it is possible to respectfully disagree on an issue, watch Lumm and Briere last night on the issue of the Fuller station. Although I may disagree with how one of them voted, I like how they were able to explain why they were voting the way that they were voting — and as such, I have respect for both of them, as both raised valid points and counter-points.